What College Board's Expanded BigFuture Scholarship Support Means for Enrollment Leaders
As higher education institutions face pressure to trim aid packages and shift more of the financial burden to families, helping students plan and pay for college matters more than ever.
Recognizing this challenge, the College Board recently announced a major expansion of its BigFuture® Scholarships program—a $6.5 million investment that brings total scholarship support to more than $32 million and extends opportunities through the high school class of 2030.
Each month, BigFuture awards two $40,000 scholarships and hundreds of $500 scholarships to students nationwide for completing simple, practical planning steps on bigfuture.org, such as starting a college list and applying to college. There are no GPA, test score, or essay requirements.
BigFuture Scholarships squarely address one of the biggest challenges facing enrollment leaders and families alike: affordability. These scholarships help more students navigate the steps that lead to college entry and persist in the college planning process, creating a broader, more engaged pool of students who are ready to take the next step onto your campus.
The Reality of College Cost
College Board’s Trends in College Pricing 2025 data provide context for understanding the student experience today:
After falling 38% over 13 years—dropping from $163.9 billion (in 2024 dollars) in 2010–11 to $101.4 billion in 2023–24—total student and parent borrowing increased slightly to $102.6 billion in 2024–25. That’s a 1.2% uptick after more than a decade of decline.
Among students who earned a bachelor’s degree in 2023–24 from nonprofit four-year institutions, 47% graduated with debt and borrowers owed an average amount of $29,560.
These data underscore a key reality: Even as institutions work hard to keep costs down, financial barriers remain a major threat to college access.
For enrollment leaders, this means affordability concerns are influencing student behavior earlier than ever, shaping who engages, applies, and ultimately enrolls.
Action Steps for Enrollment Leaders: Putting BigFuture Scholarships to Work
When it comes to financial support for college, collaboration matters. BigFuture Scholarships represent one way College Board is investing in students’ ability to pay for college and helps address affordability.
How can this program strengthen your enrollment strategy?
Share BigFuture Scholarship Opportunities with Prospective Students
To demonstrate student-centered affordability, your institution can incorporate scholarship details into:
Outreach emails
High school visit materials
Counselor newsletters
Campus tour scripts and info sessions
Equip Staff with BigFuture Scholarship Talking Points
Admissions staff can highlight:
No-essay, no-GPA eligibility
Monthly scholarship opportunities for both $500 and $40,000 awards
Steps students can take immediately to start earning entries
This approach helps reinforce your commitment to making college accessible.
Promote Early Engagement
BigFuture plays a key role in prompting students to establish their interests. Encourage 9th- and 10th-grade students in your pipeline to begin exploring careers and researching colleges on bigfuture.org. Each year, thousands of students save colleges on their interest list, offering actionable opportunities for enrollment specialists using College Board Search to engage and nurture student curiosity.
Why BigFuture Scholarships Matter for Enrollment and Student Success Leaders
To become eligible for one of the monthly $500 to $40,000 BigFuture Scholarships, students must complete simple, but practical college planning milestones. This approach delivers several strategic benefits for both students and institutions:
Encourages early, ongoing planning, strengthening the top of the enrollment funnel.
By tying scholarships to structured planning actions, BigFuture prepares students to be well informed, motivated, and ready to take their next steps.Reinforces behaviors that correlate with college-going success.
The planning steps reflect behaviors enrollment teams cultivate, including career exploration, financial aid awareness, and thoughtful college list development.Expands opportunity to more students beyond merit-based funding.
With no GPA, essay, or test score requirements, BigFuture Scholarships are designed to ensure opportunities reach students from a wide range of backgrounds. To date, 60% of scholarship recipients have come from low-income backgrounds, and nearly half are first-generation college students.To ensure resources flow to students with the highest financial need, students whose families earn under $60,000 per year receive double the number of scholarship entries for every completed planning step.
Creates momentum during the moments that matter most.
Financial uncertainty often stops students before they ever reach an institution’s inquiry or application stage. With hundreds of students winning a $500 scholarship each month, BigFuture reinforces that college is within reach—prompting students to stay engaged and move forward in the enrollment process.
A Shared Commitment to College Opportunity
College remains a proven pathway to better jobs and long-term opportunity. By extending BigFuture Scholarships through 2030, College Board is helping more students take actionable steps toward a future they can see themselves in.
College Board consultants can help you use College Board Search to reach students early in their college exploration process. Features like Student Plans and Preferences and Interest in My College help identify students most likely to engage with your institution. More broadly, Search insights help institutions:
Target outreach
Personalize communications
Strengthen yield strategies
“Each and every student deserves the opportunity to own their future after high school. BigFuture Scholarships turn aspirations into action, helping teens dream big and take concrete steps to make those dreams real.”
Amy Reitz, senior vice president, BigFuture
